If someone were to shout out that the mayor of your town was a corrupt so and so, and should be investigated for syphoning public funds into his Swiss bank account what would be your reaction? Would it be to call for a thorough investigation into the accusations or would it be to call up the accuser and ask why he had not had his shoes cleaned recently? Would it be to interview the mayor about the foreign bank account or would it be to question the accuser about his choice of haircut?

Then, were his replies about hair styles not to your satisfaction, you would be forgiven for dismissing such claims against the mayor, because, after all, anyone who walked around with dusty shoes couldn't possibly speak with authority about serious issues.

Well this, to many, is how Spanish Politics are being conducted right now. As new political formations are being formed and new calls for regional identity the Gazachomonk goes in search of answers and comes up with not only an insight into why Spain is in so much in pain right now, but also a handy remedy for dusty shoes too.

Health Warning: This is not a tweet-length post. It may be better absorbed with your feet up, a chocolate digie and a cup of Ovaltine in your hand. Or if you prefer, go to the bottom of the post and you'll see a link to the audio version you can download. Either way, Go Slow and expect only the unexpected. READ MORE...

Tony Benn once recommended that we should ask our leaders 5 Important Questions:

What power have you got?

Where did you get it from?

In whose interests do you exercise it?

To whom are you accountable?

And how can we get rid of you?

Now, it strikes me that, were I to sit Mariano Rajoy down with a drink and say: "Look Mariano, I'm going to ask you 5 questions, and between you, me and this glass of gazpacho, be honest." I think he'danswer:

Complete and Total

We have always had it.

Our own.

No-one

You can't.

But things were not always like this. Once upon a time - for a fleeting moment in history - Spain enjoyed a flourishing democracy unlike anything the world had seen before, but it lasted just a few months. One man, however, witnessed that moment and wrote down the lessons he learnt in 3 majorly important books:

Homage to Catalonia

Animal Farm

1984

And his name, was George Orwell. (Read More below for video and podcast on Orwell)

Leòn Felipe is today's curious character from Spanish history. This series of brief posts aim to simply introduce you to some of the lesser known individuals of contemporary Spanish history.

People who lived life with a passion and a dedication to principle, politics and culture.

Leòn Felipe was a reluctant pharmicist but avid anti-fascist poet born in Zamora, Spain.

He had earlier worked as a stand up comic in a touring theatre company, spent 3 years in prison for fraud and later worked as a literature professor in the USA.

Leòn Felipe fought in the civil war in defense of the Republic and in 1938 was exiled to Mexico where he died 30 years later.

"Brother, yours is the estate,

The house, the horse and the gun,

Mine is the old voice of the earth.

You have everything.

Yet I leave you voiceless, voiceless,

I go off with the song."

Felipe and Che Guevara's Notebooks

He remains, with Garcia Lorca, one of most well remembered poets of the generation of 27It is said that several of Felipe's poems were found in the notebook of Che Guevara's when he was finally captured by the Bolivian Army and the CIA.

Want mOre stories on Characters From the Spanish civil war? Read about the Ambulance Man, the Spy and the Exodus below.

What does the name Orson Welles conjure up to you? The voice behind War of the Worlds? The voice behind Findus Peas? Or the creative genius of Citizen Kane? Well how about this...think not Orson Welles but Awesome Well - for thats where the great man ended up: lobbed down a well on the outskirts of Ronda in Andalusia.

This is the story of how the best film director of all time (British Film Institute) - a man remembered for his love of wine, food, beards and cigars - built a relationship with Spain that spread over the course of his entire life.

Hemingway and "The Spanish Earth"

Some say it all began when Orson arrived at the age of 17 in Seville and fell in love with the city, the romance and the bulls. Others say it happened at a later stage, when asked by Hemingway to narrate the classic film in support of the Spanish Republic: The Spanish Earth.

Orson was chosen to narrate the film because he had become the voice of his times. He could convince you that the Earth was being invaded by Martians, or that Carlsberg is "Probably the best lager in the world" or that frozen peas were something to salivate over in the supermarket.

But such a voice can be too good, as he was to discover later in life. Hemingway, came to a similar conclusion and ended up narrating another version of the film, saying Welles was too dramatic and his voice shifted the focus away from the real issues underlying the film. Whatever the true reason, Orson's love affair with the country had begun and wouldn't end until his body would be tossed down a well in the deep south of Spain.

Here we come Walking down the street We Get the Funniest Looks From Everyone we meet

Holy Week is Upon Us

Yes, its that time of the year again when the streets are filled with incense and pointy hats whilst pavements are covered in dripping wax and the weary feet of the solemn ones. Its that time of year when you must dust down your Roman Centurion Uniform or your lace Mantel, dig out your shepherds costume, brass trombone or supply of thongy sandals. Its time to dress up, to shine once more and get out and parade, for despite the economy, the corruption and the global grey clouds hanging about, some things are simply beyond the scope of out daily preoccupations.

70 pages of Gorgeous photos and Gazpacho Style Words in this free ebook available this week only from here.

This Week Only: The Latest Free eBook from the mOnk.

You can read the history of Semana Santa anywhere on the net, but how does it feel to be there?

How does it feel to be down there? Amongst the devout and the not-so devout?

How does it feel to be amongst the SILENT ONES in the blackness of the madrugada with just the beat of the drums to light your way?

How does it feel to be assaulted by the Incensarios, subjected to song and dance and the wobble of a Mr. Whippy hat?

Semana Santa: An Agnostic Approach is the latest Photo ebook by the GazpachomOnk. Its available in both PDF and ePub formats and this week goes on sale. Normally €2.49, this week it's FREE (just share on social media)*

75 pages of glorious original photography and crafted text. The package comes in one handy zipped file containing both - PDF: Good for laptops, tablets and desktops. ePub: Best for iPad, other tablets and ebook readers.

Normally 2.49 - get it for free from HERE or click on Buy now below and choose SHARE.

The Outbreak of the Civil War From The Wife of Gerald Brenan

Gamel Woolsey

Death´s Other Kindom by Gamel Woolsey was not - as popular myth speculates - referring to living in Spain under the leadership of the Partido Popular - but rather the Spain of 1936 during the immediate aftermath of the July Military Uprising.

Written from the relative safety of their Churriana Cortijo (In Malaga) Woolsey relates how she and her husband - Hispanist Gerald Brenan (of South of Granada fame) - lived those first few tumultuous months of the civil war, before the invasion by Nationalist forces and the infamous exodus of the city of Malaga.

What gives the book its unique perspective for anyone interested in this revolutionary period of Spanish history, is that unlike other tales of the civil war by foreigners (Orwell, Lee, Bethune) Woolsey treads what she believes is a fine line between the Republicans and Nationalists. She exhibits both sympathy and outrage with her village - her 'pueblo' - as she wobbles precariously on the shaky fence of impartiality.One unexpected outcome of this posturing, is her lucid depiction of the sadness, frustration and futility of wars as it affects all men irrespective of sides, perhaps referencing her chosen title here - taken as it is from T.S. Eliots poem: The Hollow Men.

As her 'pueblo' attempts to protect, defend, and finally bring to trial their own people, her humanity and compassion guides her though the successive waves of violence and vengeance in each chapter. Whilst the forces of rebellion made ground, allegiances become more fluid, or - as often the case as pressure mounts - set in stone as the war stumbles blindly forward.It is a moving and intimate portrayal of those crucial few months of 1936, and unlike almost any other account of the war in English, it is told perceptively from someone who not only saw the scars opening on the horizon in front of her, but engaged with those who lives she was connected to, and whose lives were thrown so dramatically into turmoil by such events.Gamel Woolsey returned again to Spain after the Civil War with Gerald Brenan, but her life as a writer and spiritual Hispanist would be forever eclipsed by the success of her husbands more analytical writings on the origins of conflict and his time living in the Alpujarras. (The Spanish Labyrinth and South of Granada).